<p>Bob Dylan is a bad harmonicist!</p>
<p>^adding on to mythmom-- of course, the music scene in Cambridge/Boston is fabulous. can't go wrong there :)</p>
<p>I think Williams College is great for musicians...I'm not sure about the scene in the surrounding area, though. I don't know what sort of live venues they have around there. I'd imagine OP's child might be interested in Tufts? (Not an actual LAC, but similar).</p>
<p>just to clarify - </p>
<p>Mythmom's comments about audition requirement don't apply here - only relevant if applying for ADMISSION to the music school. Arts and Science students at Oberlin or Northwestern, for example, have ALL music courses open to them. At least at the latter, minors are also available to non-music school students.</p>
<p>Tufts is a reasonable consideration. I'd agree with mamenyu that Bard - and Vassar - may be a train ride away from NYC but may well feel too small in their isolated locales given the poster's preferences.</p>
<p>Tufts is an interesting thought, but somehow my image of it is different from the LAC model of small discussion-style cooperative learning. I have the impression that Tufts (and maybe some of the top LACs like Williams and Amherst) are more about competition on the way to professional programs in law, business and medicine, and less about cooperation, creativity and thoughtful learning. My son is an outstanding student, but is a mellow kid (likes surfing, and playing acoustic guitar) -- hence the Peace Corps goal, rather than investment banking. I don't think he wants a really cutthroat environment. Also, are classes bigger and more lecture style at Tufts? Another thing, regarding music, I think his emphasis at this point is less on performance and more on composition. He wants to be able to listen to a lot of good music at clubs, concerts, etc., and maybe play in a casual jazz, blues or rock band, but is not looking for the discipline of a conservatory. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Not at all true of Williams. It has the most cooperative atmosphere I have ever seen. S and friends work on music theory homework together. The entry system makes instant friends and the kids are definitely NOT competitive.</p>
<p>I'm sure the same is true for Amherst.</p>
<p>Not sure about Tufts.</p>
<p>I just want to echo everything everyone has said about Oberlin (coming from a current Oberlin student). Also, so many amazing bands and shows actually come to the college that it's very rare you have to travel the 40 minutes to the house of blues or somewhere outside of the college.
And in terms of non-conservatory opportunities, I don't think any of the performing groups are con-only students. I have several friends in the jazz ensemble who aren't in the con, and it's one of the most impressive student groups I've seen perform at Oberlin.</p>
<p>I'm glad to hear about Williams -- it sounds like a great place!</p>
<p>Withinamile -- what is the academic environment like at Oberlin? Competitive? Cooperative?</p>
<p>My son is a current sophmore at Oberlin. He is a bio and math major, but loves music. He is currently playing in a quintet of all non-music majors and enjoying that quite a bit. He attends at least one concert a week. The thing he loves the most is the wide variety of music available. He has gone to midnight organ concerts, bluegrass, jazz, blues, and world music. A student ticket to the Performance Series costs about $50. This year he will get to hear the Cleveland Symphony, Chanticleer, Preservation Hall, Hilary Hahn and the Tackas Quartet among others. It is also fairly easy to get to Cleveland. </p>
<p>A word about Macalaster - It is an excellent school. But I have known several string students who have attended and been very disappointed with the music department.</p>
<p>I am not a student, but have one, at Oberlin and from what I can tell, the academics are great there -- small classes, enthusiastic smart professors (I met several at a meet and greet thing at orientation and was very impressed with how friendly and welcoming they were), challenging but not cutthroat environment. Tolerant student body. They seem especially strong in English, Classics, math, biology, political science, art history. Excellent library, both in terms of collection and physical environment. Excellent small art museum. My kid described going there as like being in an intellectual candy shop.</p>
<p>Has nobody said Carnegie Mellon???</p>
<p>Brandeis is another good school to consider. The Lydian String Quartet is in residence in the Music Department and there are lots of performance opportunities for string players. The composition program is very strong, too. Brandeis, like Tufts, is a small University with a LAC-feel, and very convenient to Boston!</p>
<p>I immediately thought of Oberlin when I read the title.</p>
<p>Not an LAC, but a small university - Rice. Rice's students are liberal and Rice has an outstanding music program. Not to mention quite a variety of music clubs/concerts in Houston.</p>
<p>Macalester is where its at</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Both are true. Williams and Amherst do offer a fast track to professional or Wall Street careers, but at Williams especially the focus and support for the arts is overwhelmingly apparent. I read (on this board actually) that Teach for America is the #1 employer of Williams grads. They may end up going to into law, business, medicine, architecture or any one of the arts or sciences, but many do something for the common good after graduation.</p>
<p>I had the pleasure to spend a fair amount of time with my son's friends and classmates over a period of 4 years and I can tell you these are great kids -- brilliant, accomplished but sincerely kind to each other. Cutthroat competitive they are not.</p>
<p>There is a huge amount of music going on at Williams, but as Mythmom said, it is campus driven. For the musicians we know, this is a plus as there are ample opportunities to perform in a supportive atmosphere. But there really is no easily accessible independent club scene as you would find in an urban setting.</p>
<p>In addition to others mentioned, Lewis & Clark and Goucher have a strong international focus and are in urban areas.</p>
<p>Another poster suggested University of Chicago, and it sounds like your son would in many respects fit in well there.</p>
<p>Chicago will not have the same focus on music as a school with an attached conservatory, nor will it always have that LAC feel to it, but I do think it's worth your son to consider for a few reasons.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>It sounds like intellectual rigor in an academic setting where learning an intellectual growth takes precedence over preparation for career paths is important to your son. Chicago's core curriculum and ethos really stresses informed citizenship and education. It doesn't have the same global emphasis as a school like Mac (an emphasis I really admire), but one of our most famous scholars, Martha Nussbaum, is definitely in that international citizenship mold.</p></li>
<li><p>Chicago has both its own neighborhood and a city attached to its hip. If Columbia and NYU are urban, Chicago is urban-lite. The city is still there (it's as far from the U of C to the loop as it is from Columbia to Times Square), but there's also some breathing room for a breathtaking campus.</p></li>
<li><p>Music opportunities are solid. Professional performers (especially classical performers, but also popular groups like the Decemberists) come to campus, and there are a handful of student performance groups as well as a music major/minor that stresses theory. Check it out: music.uchicago.edu Students of course also use the city of Chicago for concerts.</p></li>
<li><p>Chicago has a liberal arts college mindset, though its population is relatively large (4400 undergrad, 9,000 grad). Like a liberal arts college, Chicago emphasizes small class sizes and class discussions. Even classes that you'd expect to be big, like Intro to Art or Intro to Fiction, are relatively small. (25 students and 60 students, respectively-- both are discussion-based, even the 60-person one). Chicago also has a residential "house" system where a student is assigned to a house and can live in that house all four years. Houses have about 80 kids in them, are mixed years, and provide a warm and fuzzy sense of community that I associate with liberal arts schools.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks for all the great input! I hadn't heard of Goucher but have now checked out their website and it looks like an interesting possibility. We have family in Portland, so were aware of Lewis and Clark. And Macalester and Oberlin are clearly high on the list. I'll look into the others that have been mentioned.</p>
<p>The U of Chicago is bigger than we had originally been aiming at, but it definitely sounds like a great possibility. How is it politically, would you say?</p>
<p>And does anyone have any input on Carnegie Mellon? Isn't that pretty science-oriented?</p>
<p>Students at Chicago have a liberal slant (the econ faculty is another story), but we're not very showy about the fact that we are liberal.</p>
<p>An activist type would find a home here, as would a conservative, but neither would have full support of the student body.</p>